Examples

Among the factors was a pickup in purchasing activity by certain classes of chip makers, particularly services called foundries that make many of the components used in smartphones and tablet computers, said Michael Splinter , Applied's chief executive.

Michael Splinter , Applied's chief executive, said chip-manufacturing services called foundries are scrambling to boost production capacity as makers of smartphones and tablets order more and bigger chips to power those devices.

Applied's sales have recently been led by tool orders from makers of memory chips, but the company said Wednesday that the semiconductor manufacturing services known as foundries are also expanding aggressively.

The company has benefited as three major industry segments suppliers of memory chips, microprocessors and other logic chips, and build-to-order companies called foundries scramble to add production capacity to keep up with rising demand.